Shhhhh…. it’s super early in the Daubenmire home this morning and Judy and the kids are still sleeping. If the kids were all up though, I’d be fixing bowls of captain crunch cereal and trying to convince the kids they need to go to school to learn a lot of cool stuff. For some reason, they just don’t ever buy it though and would rather stay home and play the WII or their DSI’s. Go figure.
So why am I up so early anyhow? I’m up super early this morning to record a quick podcast on how to use Backblaze to restore your files, minus the kids screaming in the background. In this podcast I show you hands on how to restore your files from the Backblaze server/website and back onto your own computer.
If you kinda have no clue what Backblaze is, you will want to check out my prior post on backup software for the blind – Backblaze. I explain what Backblaze is and how it is used to backup your files on your computer.
Oh let me know what you thought of it and leave me a comment, ok?
Talk soon,
Justin
The other day I was chillin’ on my laptop and I was writing down some pretty sweet ideas for software for the blind that I could create. I went to refill my coffee and when I came back to my laptop, my 3-year-old son Cason was on Daddy’s laptop pressing keys. I asked Cason, “What are you doing big boy?” The little rascal replied “nothing daddy” with a rascally grin on his face.” That grin was really saying to me “I did something that is going to freak you out!”
When I got back on my laptop, I noticed that Cason had somehow deleted several of my word documents, mp3 files, and some of my programming source code! How you might ask? I don’t have a clue nor can I figure out how he crawled up to the top of our entertainment center the other day but the little rascal did it!
However, I didn’t freak out because I have all of my files on my computer backed up offsite… phew man! I use the Backblaze service. For 50 bucks a year, or for 5 bucks a month, you can back up all the files on your Mac or Windows pc that are important to you… documents, pictures, music, and pretty much anything else. You might be wondering, how does Backblaze actually work?
You download a tiny application that installs onto your Windows PC or Mac in three clicks and doesn’t require a credit card or any information to start using it. This internet backup application automatically finds all your photos, music, documents, and other irreplaceable files—no matter where they are on your hard drive—and compresses and securely encrypts them. When you’re not using your computer, it sends them over the Internet to the remote Backblaze datacenters.
So you go to the Backblaze website and download the free 14-day-trial backup program. When you install it, it will ask for an email address and a password. The email needs to be your real email address but the password doesn’t have to be your real email password. This information will be used to log into the Backblaze website so you can restore any of your files. I’ll cover how to restore your files in my next post so stay tuned.
After you supply your email address and a password, the Backblaze program will instantly start backing up everything on your computer to their secure offsite server… it’s that easy! They use your email address and password to encrypt your personal data as it streams in the background over a secure connection to their offsite servers so it’s totally safe. They give you unlimited storage. In addition to your regular computer, you can even backup an external USB drive plugged into your USB port. Oh and Backblaze works both on Windows and Mac… sweet!
The guys at back blaze are pretty cool. I worked with their programmers to make the back blaze program accessible for blind or low vision users. I’ve used back blaze for over 2 years now and I have never had a problem with it. The other day I had to format my computer and had no stress over it. Once my computer was back up and running I just simply restored all of my files from Backblaze onto my computer.
I’m an affiliate for the guys at Backblaze so if you decide to sign up for it, please come back to this blog post and click a back blaze link on this page prior to paying for the service. It will toss a cookie on your computer so when you order Backblaze, the guys can say “sweet! Justin sent us an affiliate so let’s give him a few pennies for helping us out.” What will I do with those few pennies? Simple, I’ll purchase a kid proof safe to keep my laptop in so Cason cannot get to it anymore!
In my next post, I’ll show you how to restore files from the Backblaze server. For now though, get backing up! Oh and if you try out Backblaze let us all know what you think of it. Leave a comment and share your thoughts with us all, ok?
Talk soon,
Justin
I have a money reader device especially made for the blind sitting on my nightstand. The device uses OCR technology to scan and then read aloud US and Canadian currency to a blind individual. How much did this device cost? It cost me $300.
Recently a company named Ipplex released a program called LookTel. It is for the Apple iPhone 3G S or later, the iPod touch fourth generation, and the iPad 2. LookTel performs the exact same operation as the adaptive device I have sitting on my nightstand. So what’s the difference? LookTel costs $1.99 and the adaptive device cost $300. That’s almost unbelievable, but it’s true!
The LookTel software uses the iPhone, iPod or iPad’s built in camera to take a picture of the bill and then speaks it aloud. It can recognize all United States currency. It can identify and read $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. You just wave your iPhone, iPod or iPad over the bill, with no need to flatten or straighten it out, and a voice quickly tells you the denomination. You can watch a youtube video of this product. While you cannot see what the person is doing, the person is waving an iPhone over bills. The voice then speaks what bill it is.
If you are using this software, let us all know what you think of it. Post us a comment below and share your experiences with us all, ok?
Thanks!
Talk soon,
Justin
In part 1 of this series we talked about CCleaner and how it can help you get rid of junk files and invalid registry entries and in turn, help speed up your computer. In part 2 we discussed Defraggler and how it can help speed up file access on your hard drive through using its defrag operation. In this third and final post, we are going to look at another speed boosting utility built right into Windows itself. It’s called the System Configuration Utility.
The System Configuration Utility is a tool built into windows that allows you to tweak various options of windows to try to increase performance. To start the System Configuration Utility follow these steps:
- Press windows key+r to pull up the run prompt
- Type msconfig and press enter (msconfig stands for Microsoft Configuration)
- The system configuration tool appears
By default, you are placed on the general tab. We are not going to cover all the tabs in this dialog since it is out of scope of this article; however, the only tab we are interested in is the startup tab. All other tabs you should not adjust so resist the temptation to play, ok?
To get to the startup tab, Press control+tab multiple times until you hear your screen reader state startup. The startup tab tells windows what programs to automatically start as soon as you turn on your computer. Each program that you install on your computer potentially can put an entry on this tab to have itself startup automatically. The problem with this is that Windows can auto-start many programs and those programs are loaded into your computer’s memory. The programs then use up your system resources even though you did not start them. Ultimately this slows your pc down significantly.
Tab to the startup list box showing you what programs are slated to automatically load as soon as you turn on your computer. You may have many items or just a few items in this list box. You can use your down and up arrow keys to review the items in the list. The list gives the name of the program to start and the path to the executable file. You use this information to try to identify what the program is and if you want it to automatically start when you turn on your computer. For example, here are two entries in my startup list:
- TotRecSched C:\Program Files\HighCriteria\TotalRecorder\TotRecSched.exe
- GoogleToolbarNotifier C:\Program Files\Google\Google Toolbar\GoogleToolbarNotifier.exe
Those two items, along with other items in my list, are slated to automatically load when I turn on my computer. I do not want the total recorder scheduler or the google toolbar to automatically load. I will load those programs when I need to use them. I’ll do that either by using the desktop icons or their icons located in the all programs list. To disable them from automatically starting, I will press my spacebar while focused on the item. This will uncheck the item from starting automatically.
You should review your list of startup applications and uncheck ones that you do not need to automatically start. You might even see the BSC Talking Clock or Day by Day Professional in the list if you opted to have them start automatically. Just press your space bar while focused on any item in the list to uncheck it from automatically starting.
Caution!! Do not uncheck any adaptive software such as your screen reader, screen magnification software, etc. since that will remove speech and magnification support from automatically starting when you turn on your computer. The only other one you should be careful to never uncheck is any antivirus entries. If you uncheck any antivirus software from automatically starting when you turn on your computer, you are potentially opening yourself up for getting a virus!
Some applications you may see in the list that are ok to uncheck may include adobe acrobat, Groove monitor, itunes, Winamp, napster, winzip, quicktime task, yahoo messenger, google talk, skype, msn registered toolbar, and java tm updater.
The other items you can tab through on the startup screen include an enable all button, disable all button, ok button, and cancel button. If you press enter on the enable all button, all items in the startup list will become checked. If you press enter on the disable all button, all items in the startup list will be unchecked. Tab to the ok button and press enter on it to save your changes. You will be prompted with a message stating “You must restart your computer for some of the changes made by System Configuration to take effect.” Press enter on the restart button to restart your computer and try to pay attention to any speed increase.
Based on how many programs you unchecked in your startup list, you should notice a speed increase. Specifically, you should notice that getting to your log on screen or your desktop is quicker. Obviously the more programs you uncheck from automatically starting up, the more of a speed increase you will notice.
When you arrive back at your desktop, you will be given a prompt by the System Configuration Utility saying The System Configuration Utility is currently in Diagnostic or Selective Startup mode. It’s ok, this doesn’t mean the end of the world is here! Tab to the checkbox that states “Don’t show this message or launch the System Configuration Utility when Windows starts” and check it. Next, tab to the ok button and press enter. You then will arrive at your desktop.
Next week we are going to be starting a new series and you do not want to miss it! Tell others about the blog here so they can follow along with the new series. People can subscribe to the blog via rss or email.
Oh and before I forget, please leave me a comment below and let me know your thoughts on this post, ok?
Thanks for reading!
Talk soon,
Justin